• A practical solution in delineating thin conducting structures and suppression problem in direct current resistivity sounding

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      https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jess/122/04/1065-1080

    • Keywords

       

      Apparent conductance; resistivity sounding; apparent resistivity; groundwater investigation; mineral exploration; hard rocks; suppression problem.

    • Abstract

       

      In hard rock areas, conventional apparent resistivity measurement using Schlumberger resistivity sounding fails to detect thin conducting structures (2-D and 3-D fractures filled with groundwater and mineral aggregate) concealed at a large depth. In the present study, an attempt is made to way-out the detection problem of deep seated thin conducting layer. It is proposed to study the apparent conductance simultaneously with resistivity sounding to detect such conductive zones qualitatively. Apparent conductance is defined as the magnitude of current flowing in the subsurface for a unit applied voltage through current electrodes. Even though such measurement is of qualitative importance, it gives extremely valuable information for the presence of conductive zones at depth in challenging hard rock terrain. It has been observed that apparent conductance increases significantly when groundwater bearing fractures and conductive bodies are encountered in the subsurface. Field data from different locations are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of such measurement. The measurement assists to the conventional resistivity sounding for successful prediction of groundwater zones at large depth in different hard rock areas and is of enormous importance. The approach is also used for possible solution of suppression problem in the DC resistivity sounding when intermediate layer is not reflected in the resistivity sounding curve. Finally, the approach can be used together with resistivity sounding to solve many practical problems.

    • Author Affiliations

       

      Shashi Prakash Sharma1 Arkoprovo Biswas1

      1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, India.
    • Dates

       
  • Journal of Earth System Science | News

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      Posted on July 25, 2019

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